No ice? Gaza is doing the Rubble Bucket Challenge

‘We don’t have water, but this is what we have.’

While the West chucks endless buckets of water around, Palestinians have responded with their own version of the craze – the Rubble Bucket Challenge. The idea is simple: raise awareness for the political situation in Gaza by replacing ice and water with debris from bombed-out buildings.

Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Aloul and Jordanian comedian Mohammed Darwaza have spearheaded the movement, with both releasing videos of themselves pouring rubble on their heads.

"We looked for a bucket of water, however the use of water is more important than to go over our heads," Aloul says in his video. "This challenge is for all people who sympathise with the Palestinian people. We ask for solidarity from those who have followers and audience."

Aloul hopes that the viral craze will catch on and higlight the ongoing political situation in Gaza, as well the poverty and instability that riddles the region. "We don't have water, but this is what we do have," he says, standing among the remains of homes destroyed by the recent Israel-Palestine conflict.

The premise remains exactly the same as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – record a film of yourself pouring rubble over your head and nominate others to follow suit. Any posts on social media are using the hashtag #rubblebucketchallenge. There is no requested donation; you just need to have a desire to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"Money will not bring the so many innocent souls back to life and we cannot begin to rebuild Gaza unless the Israeli attacks stop," Maysam Yusef, the Gaza university student who launched the Rubble Bucket Challenge, told the Verge. "So our campaign is more of a social media revolution, where people show their solidarity with Gaza and publicly reject the killing of civilians. We are trying to form a worldwide movement to pressure Israel to stop this genocidal act against Palestinians of Gaza."

2,133 people have died in Gaza and 10,890 have been wounded since the start of Israeli military action in Gaza on 8 July. Thousands of homes have been destroyed by missile strikes and with truces collapsing weekly, it seems like a peaceful resolution to the fighting is not close yet.